


Dressing Snazzy

by Yalu



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Science Bros, Sharing Clothes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-29
Updated: 2013-08-29
Packaged: 2017-12-25 00:08:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/946334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yalu/pseuds/Yalu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the fight's over and Loki's locked down, Tony sets out to find Bruce some clothes. He doesn't have to.<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	Dressing Snazzy

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this tumblr post](http://yalumesse.tumblr.com/post/94708857087/looking-at-tony-and-bruces-outfits-at-the-end-of), which pointed out that in the last scene of _Avengers_ Bruce was wearing Tony's clothes.
> 
> This was going to be a fill for [love_bingo](http://love-bingo.livejournal.com) prompt: heterosexuality, and I was going to spin it as these two guys having genuine feelings for each other that don't become romantic because they're both straight, but I couldn't manage to make it obvious enough, so you get straightforward friendshippy fic instead :)  
> 

Bruce had a lot of practice holding the shreds of his trousers together.

"JARVIS, buddy, there isn't any more debris or pulverised Gods of Chaos on this level, is there?"

"Not that I'm aware of, sir."

With enough practice he'd even figured out how to walk with the pieces held in one hand without flashing everyone around him. Most of the time. The times he couldn't... well, he'd got over being humiliated a long time ago.

"Great. Come on, big guy, we've got to get you some _clothes_."

And it wasn't like he had much other choice. Usually he was just lucky to still _have_ trousers – the most he ever found of his shirts were some threads caught in his hair. The legs would always be split and the buttons and zips ripped off, but not too badly. The Other Guy had a pretty small waist.

He shook his head and followed Tony. "You really don't have to do this."

"Of course I don't," said Tony, and stopped to point at something in the middle of the hallway. "Hey, would you look at that – not smashed up."

Tony made a show of checking for dust on a handrail that had bits of shattered tiles scattered under it, and the way he sniffed at it made Bruce chuckle.

"No laughing there, Shrek, this is serious. I may have to fire the cleaners."

Bruce pressed his lips together to muffle it and Tony turned to him, brow furrowed, breaking character. "What part of that did you think you were supposed to take seriously?" When Bruce just shrugged, he frowned. "Huh."

He studied Bruce for another few seconds, until it was almost uncomfortable, then swirled around and pushed open a pair of doors and led him through. JARVIS hit the lights.

It was a closet. It was a massive walk-in closet, wide enough for Tony to spread his arms in a What Do You Think? pose as he walked backwards several feet. Bruce slowed to a stop in the doorway and looked around, fidgeting a little, and when it because obvious Tony was waiting for a reaction he said, "Could be bigger."

Tony grinned and started rifling through the hangers, digging his way down past a stack of dark-grey trousers to the lighter-grey ones. There was a small table in the middle of the room – probably where everything was folded before being hung – and Tony tossed four pairs onto it over his shoulder. "Start with those. Black's too strong for you."

Bruce shook his head slightly. "Tony, it's really–"

"Uh, uh! You don't get to argue, big guy. My house, my rules; I'm the only one who gets to walk around naked. And Pepper. But not when we have guests. ...We've never had guests. Huh." He crossed the room to where all the dress shirts were hanging in a neat row, arranged from red to purple to black to white in a perfect rainbow. Tony could probably pull off any colour.

Quietly, Bruce picked up a light grey pair of pants and rubbed the fabric between his fingers. It was really nice stuff, high quality - not that he'd expected any less - but it would tear just as easily as cheap cotton. "You're not going to let me say no, are you," he said.

"Nope."

Bruce shook his head, honestly not getting it. "Why?" _Why do you care?_

Tony slowed down a little, didn't turn around or flash a grin, and for a second Bruce was reminded of the way he'd gone very still and lost his smile back in the Helicarrier lab, when he'd blurted, " _You can't, I know, I tried._ " Bruce had only caught a glimpse, quickly looking down before he could see pity coming from the only person in years who'd joked with him, who hadn't tiptoed around the Hulk and actively gone at him with pointy things - scientific method and all. Bruce understood that, respected and appreciated it, and now... now he suspected he wouldn't have seen pity at all. Sympathy, maybe. Maybe fear, not of him but _for_ him, because for all that Bruce had been grateful for everything Tony was doing for him just by being himself, he'd also understood what he was being for Tony: an equal, intellectual and otherwise, and if things had been reversed and he'd been listening to Tony confess attempted suicide, he'd have ached. It would have hurt.

From the way Tony was standing, facing away with stiffness in his shoulders, it wasn't hard to guess that it was mutual, and Bruce felt a burst of deep, deep affection for this careless guy who cared more than anyone else since Betty.

So when Tony turned around, gave a patented grand shrug and said, "'Cause I don't do that. JARVIS, when's the last time I took no for an answer?" Bruce could read through the lines easily enough - _Just 'cause._

And when JARVIS replied, "The last time Miss Potts said so, sir," they laughed about it together.

"Yeah, yeah, besides that. Ah ha!" Tony crowed. He triumphantly pulled a bright yellow shirt from the rack and held it up in front of Bruce. "You're a happy sort of person, after all. Sunshine boy. We should have Fury put that on your posters."

With a smile, Bruce accepted.


End file.
